Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-09
BOOK TABLE.
NEW BOOKS SOMETHING ABOUT
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
What the Publishing World is Pre-
senting for the Publication Of
the Reading Public.

THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. By
General John A. Logan with memoir of the
author and military "reminiscences, from Gen
eral Iogan's private journal. Chicago and
New York K. S. Peale & Co. Subscriptions
solicited by ". W. swadley, sacramento.
Royal svo.. zoo PIP: illustrated. For sale by
the Historical Publishing Company 40 Suffer
street, San Francisco.
This posthumous work gains especial
importance because Of the recent bereave-
ment of the nation in the death of General
Logan. The volume, the title OF which
very fully d;scloses its character, is very
handsomely illustrated, and is admirably
printed. The memoir referred to is by
C. A. Logan, Jr. In his predatory note
General Logan wrote as follows:
These pages have been written amid the en-
crossing cares and occupationsof an official life.
The labor involved in their preparation has
constituted pleasant task for the writer, since
they cover a subject which has ever been near
his heart-the glories as well as the interests of
the volunteer soldiery of America. No more
fascinating theme than that presented by the
citizen of the United States, when, leaving the
pursuits of peaceful life. he arrays himself in
the garb of a soldier and takes the field in de
tense Of country and principle, can be found III
any chapter of the worlds history. It is wholly
safe to say that in his character of defender Of
right and justice, with no feature of the de-
spoiler and oppressor, and in his attributes of
lofty patriotism of unselfish unhinching, in
flexible courage, of patience under suffering
and of moderation under victory, and finally Of
effectiveness In the dread perils, the sudden
surprises and the capricious results of battle, he
has had no faithful counterpart in any age Of
the world.
Mrs. Logan, in a letter TO the publishers
speaks of the haste with which she per
mitted the book to be issued so soon after
the Generals death as accounted for by her
desire that the public should feel that no
other hands than the Generals had COM
pleted the book. General Logan was an
enthusiast in his admiration for the citizen
soldiery of the United States. Probably
no other officer held ii in higher esteem,
and certainly no other gave it SO much of
thought and solicitous care. A book from
such man must partake of this enthusi-
asm, and be understood TO be warm and
earnest eulogist of the volunteers of the
nation. The style is strong, if not grace
ful; its Vigor and positiveness is bracing !;
its proofs are admirably marshalled, and
its orderly, historical arrangement is adj
mirable. The General begins with re-
view of the character of the American
citizen-soldier the causes that brought
him into military history; the forces that
developed the volunteer system, and the
Inherent virtues that maintain it; the
proves of the free soldier. and q COM
parison of his worth with the early men,
alarms, and the clear distinction between
the motives actuating the two classes. He
then takes up the history of military edrl-
cation in the United States, gives an ac-
count of the rise, growth and present con-
dition of the West Point and Annapolis
Academies, and after exhaustive consider
alton OF the volunteer forces of the period
OF the Revolution, he comes down to the
present period and the soldier it develops,
al -, 1 -
nation that has borne for good or i'll upon
militia organization. A review Of
the present military system of the
United States forms part second
of the work. Part third is entitled
Demand for Justice" in which a
strong, fervent and forcible appeal is made
for fairer judgment of the citizen soldier.
In this part he considers the questions of
discipline, personal bravery, heroism, etc.
Here he treats in detail of the revolution,
the war of 1872 and the civil war, and con-
siders the characteristics OF the soldiers of
each of those periods.
The personal sketches of naval and army
volunteers, who won rank and distinction,
run back to the period of the revolution,
and constitute, in our opinion, the most
interesting portion of this attractive work.
General Logan contended for remodelinc
of our present military system as national
necessity. W cannot pause to consider his
plans they should be read in detail to be
entirely grasped. 1t must suffice to say
that the deficiencies of the present system,
pointed out in detail in the preceding
pages, are rapidly reviewed and the military
systems of other countries compared
with ours. In devising a new system
It is insisted that military education must
he 7ntirely divorced from politics entrance
20 the army and navy to be free TO all and
on the basis of merit and fitness in apply
ing tests for rank and official place; all
vestiges of class faYoritism and class dis
tinction must be swept away, and places of
power and trust in army and navy be open
to the general competition, through merit,
of all citizens; and finally knowledge
must be ditfused among the people gener-
ally of military knowledge, ito the double
end that they may be better prepared for
military duties upon the outbreak of hos
tilities with any adversary, and that the
dangers arising from reposing military ed
ucation solely in a small class of indiyid-
uals may be forever averted.' The work
is one which fills heretofore vacant place
and fills it well. 1t is little ford, to be
sure, marked by some extravaganza of the
enthusiasm of a man who was so deeply
i'll earnest and so holly anxious for the
pre-eminence of the American soldier over
all others that he could not at all times
maintain himself in calmnesS. But il
must not be understood that this devotion
to his subject led his judgment astray. We
believe he was sound in every conclusion
drawn concerning The needs Of the volun-
teer system.
N OLE VIRGINIA. By Thomas Nelson Page.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 81 p.
Mr.. Page has won an enviable reputation
il q dialect presentation of lie and thought
Il. Il IL.
ing Marse Chair" during the war, be
then being young lawyer in Richmond,
Virginia. 1t appeared in magazine pages
ana won instant favor. His best story and
dialect story unquestionably was Meh
Lady; Story OF the War and which, we
believe, first appeared in The Century .
magazine. We find it in this volume, as
also his other marked success, 'Unc Edin
burg's Drowndin.h The book before us is
an example of literary art work of pecu-
liar kind, illustrative of keen insight into
lowly natures, and great skill in character
sketching. il is not an exalted style of art,
to be sure; it cannot be placed anywhere
near the front rank but in It's own sphere
it is pre-eminent. The stories are fresh in
design, novel in theme, and consummately
artistic in the character drawing. IL is very
easy to understand how these homely tales,
told for the most part in the mouths of
lowly people whom slavery has impressed
rs it did no other people, have achieved
such wide popularity The chief value of
the book seems to us To he in the revelation
it makes of the manners, customs and
codes of social era that is of the past, and
which existed at time when the South
was distinctively section socially set apart
from all others, and of the inner life of
which time the younger readers of the day
can only catch a faint glimpse in such
books as this.
LIFE OF HESRy CLAY. By Carl Schurz; In two
volumes. Boston and New York Houghton,
Mifflin d Co. Sacramento; c. S. Houghton
The two volumes, s. 50.
This work IS of the American States
man series, edited by John T. Morse, Jr.,
an admirer of Clay. We opened the book
anticipating from Mr.. Schurz perfectly i'm
partial criticism of the statesman, since the
distinguished foreigner, who was not of
the time of Clay nor involved in the politi-
cal activities of his time, ought to have no
preiudices be neither over warmed by en-
thusiasm nor cooled by partisan antago-
nism. We have not been disappointed.
Mr. Schurz has dispassionately treated his
subject, aAd exhaustiyely He discovers
Clay's weaknesses of character and his
errors of craftsmanship, but does not per-
NIT them TO obscure his vision in estimat-
ing the lofty patriotism of the man and
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